Customer Service Etiquette 101: Social media

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Set Customer Service Policies That Satisfy - AllBusiness.com

TICSS Customer Service Measurement Model

Consumers are fed up with companies that treat them poorly. Without quality customer service and with the sharing capabilities provided today through social media, you could be steering a sinking ship.
Customer service affects all levels of your retail operation, and everyone involved needs to have the same mindset and follow the same policies. Take these steps to keep shoppers satisfied.
First, work on establishing the "people" aspect of customer service. This means the interaction between your employees and your customers.
Here are the basic policies you should establish and enforce:

Courtesy is king. All customers should be treated in a courteous manner at all times. This may sound obvious, but we've all experienced the rude salesperson who snaps or loses their patience quickly. There is no excuse for being rude to a customer, even an irate one.
Be professional when on the sales floor. All employee breaks and personal business should be conducted out of the view of customers, and cell phone calls or other personal communications should be limited to lunch or breaks.
Go the extra mile for a customer. A conscious effort should be made to assist a customer in finding what he or she needs and/or in resolving a problem. If there is a policy, it should be stated politely. There is no room in customer service for "attitude."
Dress appropriately. Employees dealing with customers are expected to present themselves in a professional manner and dress accordingly. This can range from a uniform to a dress code to a no T-shirts, jeans, or halters policy. Whatever works for your business should be enforced.
Develop rapport with the regulars. Encourage your staff to get to know regular customers, greet them when they come in, and make them feel comfortable. A simple hello, good afternoon, or thank you can go a long way.
Have resources readily available. There's no better way to kill a sale then being unable to find what you need. From shopping bags to tape for wrapping packages, make sure to maintain your inventory.
Train and retrain. It is very important that you train your staff in the manner that you want them to interact with customers and conduct themselves while on the sales floor. Since it is human nature to slip and revert to bad habits, to retrain occasionally allows for new ideas and reinforces positive conduct. Work with your employees, use role-play, and seek out their input. The more involved they feel in creating the policy, the more pride your employees will take in providing quality customer service.
Don't let your staff become slaves to your computers. We've all stood in long lines while sales people and cashiers swiped cards and input tons of data into a computer terminal. Streamline your process to the best of your ability.

The layout of your store or facility has most likely been carefully planned, as has the manner in which you conduct business. All employees should be well trained and knowledgeable about the products. This can, and often should, include cross-training your staff to work in various departments. Likewise, cashiers should handle sales from all departments. By doing so, you can eliminate the need to shuffle customers from one person to another. You can also move idle employees to departments where they are needed.
Such training should begin immediately after a new staff member is hired.
Finally, you should make it easy for your staff to provide quality customer service. Remember, customer service comes from the top down. If you treat your employees well, they will pass that goodwill along to your customers.
The ultimate goal of good customer service is a happy, returning customer. Most businesses rely on their returning customers for 80 percent of their business, and it's less expensive to maintain an old customer than to attract a new one. That's why quality customer service boosts the bottom line.

http://www.allbusiness.com/sales/customer-service/4113438-1.html

Monday, December 27, 2010

8 Rules For Good Customer Service By Susan Ward, About.com Guide

Good Customer Service Made Simple

Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won't be profitable for long.
Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy - happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers.
If you're a good salesperson, you can sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer service that determines whether or not you’ll ever be able to sell that person anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship with customers – a relationship that that individual customer feels that he would like to pursue.
How do you go about forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good customer service and acting accordingly; "You will be judged by what you do, not what you say."
I know this verges on the kind of statement that's often seen on a sampler, but providing good customer service IS a simple thing. If you truly want to have good customer service, all you have to do is ensure that your business consistently does these things:
1) Answer your phone.
Get call forwarding. Or an answering service. Hire staff¹ if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. (Notice I say "someone". People who call want to talk to a live person, not a fake "recorded robot".) For more on answering the phone, see Phone Answering Tips to Win Business².
2) Don't make promises unless you will keep them.
Not plan to keep them. Will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say, “Your new bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday”, make sure it is delivered on Tuesday. Otherwise, don't say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.. Think before you give any promise - because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.
3) Listen to your customers.
Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn't been paying attention and needs to have it explained again? From a customer's point of view, I doubt it. Can the sales pitches and the product babble. Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem.
4) Deal with complaints.
No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, "You can't please all the people all the time". Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.
5) Be helpful - even if there's no immediate profit in it.
The other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small piece that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained the problem, the proprietor said that he thought he might have one lying around. He found it, attached it to my watch band – and charged me nothing! Where do you think I'll go when I need a new watch band or even a new watch? And how many people do you think I've told this story to?
6) Train your staff (if you have any) to be always helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.
Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn't) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, "I don't know, but so-and-so will be back at..."
7) Take the extra step.
For instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, don't just say, "It's in Aisle 3". Lead the customer to the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.
8) Throw in something extra.
Whether it's a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be large to be effective. The local art framer that we use attaches a package of picture hangers to every picture he frames. A small thing, but so appreciated.
If you apply these eight simple rules consistently, your business will become known for its good customer service. And the best part? The irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing ever did!

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules.htm?p=1